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The article presents a study which compared second cancer risks from external beam therapy and brachytherapy after uterine corpus cancer. The researchers examined data related to second primary cancer risks from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program cancer registries in the U.S. from 1973 to 2003. They found that radiotherapy for uterine cancer stimulates the risk of second solid cancers at sites near to the uterus as well as anemia.

The article presents a study about the reproductive factors and risks of meningioma and glioma to women. A population-based case-control study was conducted using the unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios for tumors relative to reproductive factors in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain. Findings showed that reproductive hormones may regulate the occurrence of meningioma and glioma.

The article reports on the study which examines the relationship of the variation in the genes participating in folate metabolism with the development of meningioma and glioma. The study genotyped 1,005 glioma cases, 631 meningioma cases and 1,101 controls for the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), methionine synthase and methionine synthase reductase variants. It is that the highest risk of meningioma was associated with heterozygosity for both MTHFR variants.

The article presents the results of a study on the associations between interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 single nucleotide polymorphisms and glioblastoma. It reveals that both IL-4 and IL-13 suppress cell proliferation in the normal astrocytic and low-grade astrocytoma cell lines, possibly by blocking angiongenesis.

The article offers information on a case-control study which examined the link between glutathione transferase, related enzyme polymorphisms and the risk of primary adult brain tumors. The study analyzed the polymorphisms of glutathione transferases and its interaction with cigarette smoking. It found no evidence of an association between glutathione transferases or enzyme polymorphisms and adult brain tumor risks.

The article presents a study which investigated the association of polymorphic variants in thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) and rearranged during transfection (RET) genes to the risk of papillary thyroid cancer. According to the authors, there were no significant associations between cancer and polymorphic variants in analyses of men and women combined. They added that the data provide limited evidence that the genes are related to the cancer.

The article examines the influence of Caspase 8 (CASP8) polymorphism D302H on glioma. It involves analyzing the five series of glioma case patients and individuals. It notes that the carrier status of D302H of rare allele is related with an increased risk of glioma and that susceptibility to this primary brain tumor involves the association of CASP8 D302H with glioma risk and the inherited variation in the apoptosis pathway.

The article presents a study which investigated the association between serum levels of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 and glioma risk. The subjects and methods used in the study are detailed. The study observed no statistical association between glioma and IGF-binding protein-3, but found that IGF-I was inversely associated with glioma when comparing the lowest tertile with the other tertiles combined.

Brain tumors have previously been associated with the Li-Fraumeni syndrome that often is caused by p53 germ line mutations. Therefore, we investigated if polymorphisms of p53 were associated with an increased risk of meningioma and glioma and integrated the polymorphism analyses with detailed information on family history of cancer. In a population-based case-control study, DNA was extracted from 205 glioma and 164 meningioma cases identified during 2000 to 2002 in Sweden and from 374 controls selected randomly from the general population, stratified on age, sex, and geographic region. The Swedish Cancer Registry confirmed a cancer in family members in 86% of cases and controls that reported a family history of cancer. p53 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analyses were done on three SNPs from the promoter region, codon 72 in exon 4, and intron 6. Overall, no associations were found for any of the SNPs. Analyses of the combinations of the three SNPs were also done. The CC-CG-CC-specific polymorphism combination was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.36 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.68-2.72] for glioma and 1.36 (0.64-2.88) for meningioma. When restricting the analyses to cases and controls with a positive family history of cancer, the corresponding results were OR of 3.62 (95% CI, 1.05-12.48) for glioma and 5.69 (1.81-17.96) for meningioma. This study is novel in suggesting an increased risk of brain tumors when the analysis is restricted to those with a history of cancer in the family. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that these results are due to chance.

A reduced risk of primary malignant adult brain tumors is observed among people reporting asthma, hay fever, and other allergic conditions; however, findings may be attributed to prediagnostic effects of tumors or recall bias. To determine whether asthma and allergic condition polymorphisms are inversely related to glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) risk, we conducted a population-based case-control study of 111 GBM patients and 422 controls. We identified five single nucleotide polymorphisms on three genes previously associated with asthma [interleukin (IL)-4RA, IL-13, ADAM33] and one gene associated with inflammation (cyclooxygenase-2). Confirming previous literature, we found that self-reported asthma, eczema, and fever are inversely related to GBM [e.g., asthma odds ratio (OR), 0.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.33-1.25]. In addition, IL-4RA Ser478Pro TC, CC, and IL-4RA Gln551Arg AG, AA are positively associated with GBM (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.05-2.55; 1.61; 95% CI, 1.05-2.47), whereas IL-13 -1,112 CT, TT is negatively associated with GBM (0.56; 95% CI, 0.33-0.96). Each of these polymorphism-GBM associations is in the opposite direction of a corresponding polymorphism-asthma association, consistent with previous findings that self-reported asthmatics and people with allergic conditions are less likely to have GBM than are people who do not report these conditions. Because we used germ line polymorphisms as biomarkers of susceptibility to asthma and allergic conditions, our results cannot be attributed to recall bias or effects of GBM on the immune system. However, our findings are also consistent with associations between IL-4RA, IL-13, and GBM that are independent of their role in allergic conditions.

We conducted a case-control study to evaluate the preclinical association between epilepsy, diabetes, and stroke and primary adult brain tumors. We first identified all 1,501 low-grade glioma, 4,587 high-grade glioma (HGG), and 4,193 meningioma cases reported to the Swedish Cancer Registry from 1987 to 1999. Next, controls (137,485) were randomly selected from the continuously updated Swedish Population Registry and matched to cases diagnosed that year on age and sex. Finally, cases and controls were linked to the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry (1969-1999). We found that > or =8 years before HGG diagnosis (or control reference year) there was an elevated risk of HGG among people discharged with epilepsy [odds ratio (OR), 3.01; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.73-5.22]. Two to 3 years before HGG diagnosis, this risk increased (OR, 5.33; 95% CI, 3.58-7.93) and was especially strong among people ages <55 years (OR, 13.49; 95% CI, 6.99-25.94). During this 2- to 3-year prediagnostic period, we also found an increased risk of HGG among people discharged with meningitis (OR, 3.02; 95% CI, 1.06-8.59) or viral encephalitis (OR, 12.64; 95% CI, 2.24-71.24). Results are similar for glioblastoma multiforme, low-grade glioma, and meningioma. In contrast, risk of HGG among people discharged with diabetes or stroke does not increase until year of brain tumor diagnosis. The occurrence of excess epilepsy > or =8 years before HGG diagnosis suggests a relatively long preclinical phase, but excess diabetes or stroke appear late in HGG development.